On the tenth day of May, Cao Bianjiao was riding in the mountains in the north of Huguang, curiously looking at the mountains, rivers and trees in the south.
The new army invaded Huguang.
At the end of last month, the winter wheat in Shaanxi was ripe and golden everywhere. Farmers in Shaanxi relied on the emperor's relief to survive the most difficult year and put the harvested wheat into their barns.
After the bumper harvest, Shaanxi Province had sufficient food, and there was no longer any fear of famine. The price of food in Shaanxi continued to drop, from three taels per dan to 2 taels per dan, and the price of food was even lower than in previous years.
The farmers who had a good harvest were grateful for the emperor's kindness in helping Shaanxi and turned in their land taxes in advance. At this time, the land taxes in Shaanxi had been equalized. Each mu of land was only nine liters, and the common people could afford it. Moreover, all the gentry in Shaanxi had been killed by Li Zicheng, so they could not
There was a problem of resistance, but each government office successfully collected the land tax.
In just a few days, official warehouses across Shaanxi were filled with wheat.
Shaanxi was finally pacified, and Cao Bianjiao led the eager new army to attack Huguang southward.
At this time, there were two groups of big thieves entrenched in Huguang, Li Zicheng to the west and Li Dingguo to the east.
Huang Degong, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, rode on his horse, raised his hands and said to Cao Bianjiao: "Ding Xibo, for some reason Ai Nengqi's 30,000 soldiers and horses, who are now entrenched in the south of Huguang, went northward and gathered with Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of thieves to attack
Xiangyang Mansion."
"Outside Xiangyang Mansion, the bandits have joined forces for dozens of miles, and they are overwhelmingly powerful."
Hearing Huang Degong's words, Yang Guozhu asked curiously: "Isn't this Ai Nengqi a subordinate of Li Dingguo? Why is it that Li Dingguo is still forming his own army in the east of Huguang, but this Ai Nengqi defected to Li Zicheng?"
Huang Degong said: "I'm afraid the robbers used some tricks."
When everyone said this, they were silent for a moment, thinking about how Li Zicheng separated Ai Nengqi and Li Dingguo.
After a long while, Huang Degong said again: "Uncle Dingxi, Ai Nengqi's 30,000 men are all cavalry. They have always been brave, so Uncle Dingxi must be careful."
Cao Bianjiao looked ahead and said with a smile: "You rat, you can't stop the rounds of fire from my new army."
Seeing how confident Cao Bianjiao was, Huang Degong looked at Yang Guozhu. The two looked at each other for a while, and felt that the current new army was indeed powerful, and laughed loudly at the same time.
Huang Degong touched his beard and said loudly: "Uncle, now Shanxi and Shaanxi are well-established. The Holy Treasury has more than 100% of the tax revenue of Shaanxi Province. Not only that, the imperial court now has 20% more of the land tax of Jianghuai Province. After passing through Tianjin
After Wang's negotiation, the 20% increase in taxes was handed over to Taicang. This Jianghuai Province is a populous province, and the amount of land taxes is staggering."
"With the new taxes from these two provinces, the Holy One said that the 10,000 new troops lost in Shaanxi should be replaced and another 40,000 new troops should be trained."
"I'm afraid that in one year's time, our new army will have 120,000 people. Even the rebel Jiangbei Army in the south may not be a match for our new army!"
Yang Guozhu laughed loudly and said: "Huang Degong, I like what you said! The Jiangbei Army separatists Jiangnan, which is the thing that the Holy One hates the most. If our new army can pacify the Jiangbei Army, I'm afraid Huang Degong, you and I will both be granted the title of uncle."
Got it!"
Cao Bianjiao was riding on his horse, looking forward, as if he was listening to the conversation between Huang Degong and Yang Guozhu, but he seemed not to be listening. He suddenly smiled, flicked his whip, and galloped forward.
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Outside Xiangyang City, Li Zicheng was sitting in the Chinese army tent, frowning.
Li Zicheng said sarcastically: "I didn't expect that before we captured Xiangyang, the army came from Shaanxi."
The generals under Li Zicheng, including Li Guo and others who were good at conquering and fighting, all had pale faces. Even counselors like Niu Jinxing had unconcealable panic on their faces.
Li Zicheng lost several battles to the New Army in Shaanxi and killed tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. His fear of the New Army was unforgettable. After the New Army obtained Li Zhi's equipment, they were not afraid of rain or darkness. No matter what,
Li Zicheng didn't want to fight Cao Bianjiao anymore.
Everyone was silent for a long time, and Li Guo suddenly said: "Why don't you ask the Song military advisor to make a divination?"
When Li Zicheng heard this, he looked at Song Xiance as if a drowning man had seen a handful of straw.
Song Xiance knew that it was impossible to predict this hexagram.
He walked out of the queue with his hands and stood in the center of the big tent.
Immediately, someone brought out a Persian blanket and spread it on the mud floor.
Song Xiance knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to the gods of the four directions. Then he took out an old turtle shell from his arms, and then took out three Yongle Tongbao from his pocket. He put the copper coins out of the turtle shell.
, I closed my eyes and muttered something.
After shaking it for a long time, Song Xiance shook his hand, and three copper coins fell out of the turtle shell and landed on the blanket.
Everyone in the big tent stood up and looked nervously at the coins on the blanket and then at Song Xiance.
Song Xiance looked at the coins and the turtle shell for a long time before he said: "The way for dragons to fight in the wild is poor."
Li Zicheng's beard trembled slightly and he asked nervously: "Song Military Advisor, what is the interpretation of this hexagram?"
Song Xiance looked at Li Zicheng and said nothing.
Li Guo stood up abruptly and said anxiously: "Song's military advisor will quickly explain the hexagrams for us!"
Song Xiance looked at Li Guo and said: "Dragon is a man of heaven. Fighting in the wild is not the right thing to do, so you must do your best."
Almost all the generals in the tent stood up and watched nervously as Song Xiance explained the hexagram. At this time of extreme crisis, fate was almost the only hope for the generals to rely on.
"This hexagram originally does not distinguish good or bad luck, but..."
Li Zicheng's face darkened and he asked: "But what? The military advisor will tell you quickly."
Song Xiance said: "However, the position of this hexagram is chaotic, but it is full of power!"
As soon as Song Xiance finished speaking, the faces of the generals in the tent became more and more panicked. Some of them had their eyes straightened and sat down heavily on their chairs.
After a while, whispers started.
"What should I do?"
"What should I do?"
Li Guo's face turned pale and red. He suddenly bowed his hands to Li Zicheng and said, "King Chuang, our army cannot fight the new army now. We should go straight west and enter Sichuan!"
Niu Jinxing looked at Song Xiance, gritted his teeth, and said: "King Chuang, now there is no chance of winning against the new army, so we have no choice but to enter Sichuan."
Li Zicheng looked at Li and Niu, and said sarcastically: "Our army has been defeated again and again. If we flee into Sichuan in a hurry, not to mention that we can't move away this small mountain of baggage and food, I'm afraid the morale of our army will be completely lost. 10
If 50,000 people enter Sichuan, I'm afraid half of them will be lost on the way."
Gao Yigong, the general of the invading army, shouted: "What kind of Sichuan are you going to? What's the difference between escaping into Sichuan in such a mess and hiding in the Taihang Mountains to become bandits? I don't think we should go to Sichuan. We will just disband on the spot, just like when the Eighteenth Cavalry entered Shangluo."
Like a mountain, hide!"
When everyone heard Gao Yigong's words, they became even more discouraged. No one in Nuo Da's Chinese army tent spoke.
Suddenly, a loud laughter sounded in the big tent.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and all looked at the person who was laughing.
Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son Ai Nengqi sat under Li Zicheng, looking up and laughing.
"How can you be so panicked? The new army only has 50,000 people. Our two armies have 180,000 people. How can we be afraid of these 50,000 new troops?"
